Overseas Chinese Ancient Books Multiple Ways "Go Home"
As a carrier of Chinese culture, Chinese ancient books have been circulated overseas since ancient times and have a profound influence on the countries of the Han cultural circle. Despite its huge size, a large number of ancient Chinese books have lost their lives overseas due to various reasons, especially in modern times, including many rare, rare and isolated books. In recent years, as China's comprehensive national strength has increased, and the national level, as well as the academic, publishing, and collection circles, have increasingly paid attention, a large number of Chinese ancient books that have been circulated overseas are "going home" in the form of digitization, photocopy publishing, and purchase.
Understand the number and improve understanding
Although Sinologists from various countries have done some sorting and research on Chinese ancient books collected in libraries, museums and individual collectors around the world, how many Chinese ancient books are kept overseas? Where are all? What are the rare materials? It is not clear so far.
Chinese ancient books have spread overseas, and they have existed since ancient times. "In terms of the 1579 ancient books written in the "Category of the Kingdom of Japan" written in the late 9th century, it is equivalent to 1/2 of the ancient books stored in China during the same period. The number is quite alarming. The Korean peninsula also preserves a large number of Chinese books In the book "Gui Er Ji" by Zhang Duanyi of the Song Dynasty:'The Xuanhejian envoys of the Goryeo have rich foreign books. Since the pre-Qin period, the books of Jin, Tang, Sui, and Liang are all available. I don't know thousands of homes and thousands of episodes.' University professor Jin Chengyu said. The long process of distributing ancient books has made it more difficult for us to understand the storage situation of Chinese ancient books outside the region, and it is necessary to conduct a preliminary investigation.
In 2015, Zhonghua Book Company jointly launched the "Overseas Chinese Ancient Books General Project", a project for the compilation and publication of Chinese ancient books collected by the census collection of more than 30 overseas storage units, and became one of the key points of the ancient books collection and publication work during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period. . Through in-depth cooperation with overseas publishing institutions and sinologists, as of June this year, the "Overseas Chinese Ancient Books General Project" project published a total of 9 overseas ancient book catalogs such as "Yale University Library Chinese Ancient Books Catalog", involving 14 book collection institutions. The new findings fully illustrate the value of this work.
The collection of Chinese ancient books at the Bodley Library of Oxford University in the UK is second to none in the UK, especially in the collection of ancient maps, nautical charts and other geographical documents. In March 2016, He Dawei, who was then the head of the Chinese Department of the library, introduced the two collections of ancient Chinese books-"Shunfeng" and "Guide to the Law" to the staff of the China Bookstore who visited the library. "They found that there is a text in "Shunfeng" that proves the history of the earliest discovery, naming and use of Diaoyu Island (called "Diaoyu Island" in the book) by the Chinese. The "Guide Zhengfa" also records the relevant situation of Diaoyu Island. The study, these two manuscripts in the late Ming Dynasty, is the earliest extant direct evidence that Diaoyu Island and its surrounding waters have been China's inherent territory since ancient times." Zhang Hao, editor of the Documentary Photocopying and Editing Department of the China Book Bureau, said. Shortly afterwards, the two books were photocopied and published in the China Bookstore and included in the relevant ancient book catalog.
Photocopy publishing, Jiahui Xuelin
Photocopying and publishing can transform the only documents and materials into more photocopying books and provide convenience for researchers around the world. It is one of the important ways to return Chinese ancient books overseas.
The Harvard Yenching Library of Harvard University in the United States is an important overseas Chinese document collection center. Experts such as Zheng Jiongwen and Shen Jin have been actively promoting the open utilization of collection resources. Since the late 1990s, Guangxi Normal University Press has cooperated with the Harvard Yenching Library to photocopy and publish the collection of ancient Chinese books. So far, the "Harvard Harvard University Harvard Yenching Library Collection of Chinese Rare Books" has been formed. There are more than 20 kinds of books in the "Literature Series of Yanjing Library" series, about 1000 volumes, and hundreds of rare and rare ancient books and documents in China are returned to China in the form of photocopy.
In 2014, Xu Yongming, a professor in the Chinese Department of Zhejiang University, visited Harvard for the third time. "When visiting Director Zheng Jiongwen of the Harvard Yenching Library, he asked me if I was interested in selecting valuable collections of ancient books for publication according to my major. I readily agreed after listening, and then suggested to him to compile the Ming and Qing dynasties series and Ming Qing Qingji series, and get his promise."
With his professional advantages and his experience working in the Department of Ancient Books of the Zhejiang Library, Xu Yongming compared various catalogs of ancient books published in China with the catalogs of rare books provided by the Harvard-Yenjing Library, and quickly prepared a publication catalog. "Due to the serious duplication and publishing of ancient Chinese books, we should try to avoid duplication of income when compiling. On the other hand, as long as there is no photocopy in the country, try to make income as much as possible." Three series of books such as "Harvard Yenching Library Collection of Ming Dynasty Rare Books Collection" Published by Guangxi Normal University Press.
Tang Wenhui, editor-in-chief of Guangxi Normal University Press Group, said: "In more than 20 years of cooperation with Harvard-Yenjing Library, we have explored an effective model for the collection and publication of overseas collection documents-the'Harvard-Yenjing Library Model'. Simply That is to say, the library opens its collection resources. Through the visiting scholar program, scholars from various countries (especially China) are invited to the library to conduct academic collation of a certain topic or a certain type of collection literature as a visiting scholar. The results are organized by Guangxi Normal University Press Publishing. This model achieves effective linkage and smooth connection between collection agencies, visiting scholars, and publishing organizations. With the development of digital technology and the advancement of digital humanities research methods, the way Chinese ancient books are organized and published Abundance, the promotion of academic will become more prominent."
Overseas repurchase, gradually becoming a scale
In the Han cultural circle, Japan and the Korean peninsula have a long history of Chinese ancient book collection, and the most preserved precious documents are the most abundant. In 2013, with the joint initiative of 37 scholars such as Wu Weici, Yuan Xingyu and An Pingqiu and the full support of the country, Peking University repurchased a total of 931 kinds of "Okura Books" in Japan, 28143 volumes, including many copper movable scripts and four library bases Wait for rare books.
Repurchase has become an important way for the return of ancient books, including both the promotion of relevant government departments and the conscious efforts of the private collection industry.
At the end of 2019, the remnants of "Wang Boji" returned from Japan were purchased by Chinese collectors. This is the earliest extant text of Wang Bo's works, and one of the earliest and best calligraphy texts of the Tang Dynasty. Introduced to Japan since the Nara period, it is preserved in the thousand-year-old temple Kofuku-ji Temple, and it spreads well. "Previously, there were only four kinds of broken volumes in Wang Boji's Tang writings. Although this broken volume was only 12 lines, it was a major discovery in the past 100 years." Jin Chengyu said.
The case of the return of the North Song Guben "West Lake Jielian Society Collection" is also impressive. At the end of the last century, Japanese scholars saw a copy of the book and published a paper. In 2007, private collectors bought the book from South Korea, but the appraisal of the book was quite controversial. After seeing the real thing, Jin Chengyu concluded that it was the Northern Song Dynasty. After 8 years of discussion and research, finally in 2015, domestic experts judged it as a copy of the Northern Song version by text, paper, and engraving style.
"The Northern Song version of the external code has only more than 10 pieces in the world. This book is beautifully engraved and is an old collection of the Korean dynasty. 91 of the collected poems are not in the "Song of the Song Dynasty", which has precious cultural and academic value." Jin Chengyu said: " This fully illustrates the role of folk forces in the return of Chinese ancient books overseas."
Some large-scale private collections have also been published one after another, benefiting the academic world. In 2013, Jin Chengyu brought together a total of 110 kinds of Chinese ancient Yi books engraved in Japan, a total of 70 volumes, and a total of more than 38,000 pages of the "Hejian Chinese Ancient Yi Books Series", which was the largest in the world since the "Gui Yi Series". The same series of books, many of which have been lost or rare in China, are widely known in this series.
"If Wu Yueguo asked Japan and Korea for the rooftop classics during the Five Dynasties period, overseas book seeking and visiting as an important cultural activity has never stopped." Jin Chengyu said: "The return of overseas Chinese ancient books not only provides academia The new information will also help to improve the understanding of the original purpose of history, help us to understand Chinese culture more comprehensively and in-depth, and will also be helpful to enhance mutual understanding among the countries of the Han cultural circle."
"Due to the limitations of overseas research power and preservation conditions, some rare ancient books are faced with problems such as damage, annihilation, and poor research. Promoting their return to the country can not only prevent these precious documents from disappearing, but also bring them to life, but also Chinese culture in the context of globalization. Further spread of the spread." Tang Wenhui said.
Zhang Pengyu
Zhang Pengyu